The titular giants apparently live in a rocky, windswept clime. The track gives us wind, but I hear no rustling of trees. The overall effect makes me think of tundra, or maybe a place with the terrain Arizona's or New Mexico's canyon country, but a lot colder. I'm not quite sure why the track suggests such a northern reach to me; maybe it's that the wind sounds so much like the wind in Gil Luna's explicitly arctic soundscapes. The percussion in this piece could just be a way to provide a sense of menace, but it makes me think of giants beating drums, or throwing rocks at each other. Hill giants, stone giants, and maybe frost giants populate my mind while this track plays; fire giants and storm giants, not so much. The piece is great for exploration of giants' territory or negotiation with said giants. I would not recommend it for a combat scene; the pace is too slow for that.

Soft, vague instrumental and vocal music swirl around each other in this piece, creating an air of mystery. Sounds to me like the wizard is either quasi-friendly or not at home. I don't get a sense of menace or danger, unless some of those vocals come from ghosts who will later turn out to be hostile. The track would make great backing for an exploration or interaction scene; it's definitely not the right mood for a fight scene. Even though the title refers to a wizard's (or alchemist's or sage's) tower, I think the audio is much more flexible than that. The track would feel right at home under a scene set in a mystical forest glade, or under water, or any number of places. It would also work just fine for a visit to an alien planet in a sci-fi game, or even in a Cthulhu-themed game when you want to evoke a sense of wonder (you know, before the ghastly horror of the situation dawns on the victims, er, PCs).

Soldiers armed with automatic weapons and grenades throw down against strange insect-like monsters from outer space. That’s what the title promises, and that’s what the audio delivers. There is enough difference between this track and "Spec Ops Team vs Otherworldly Being" (a.k.a. "Spec Ops Team vs Large Entity") that the two tracks aren't redundant, but they're enough alike that if staging a firefight between soldiers and aliens is rare for you, you could probably get by with just one. The big difference is that this track implies a larger number of smaller enemies, and the other track implies one larger enemy. This track is very good at setting the tone its title suggests, but it presents a dilemma. If you play it loud enough to be "realistic," it may interfere with the gaming conversation at the table. If you play it softly enough to be unobtrusive, it may sound like the fight is far away.

Soldiers armed with automatic weapons and grenades throw down against strange insect-like monsters from outer space. That’s what the title promises, and that’s what the audio delivers. I like this track a lot, even though it’s very similar to “Spec Ops vs. Otherworldly Being/Large Entity,” with different monster sounds. The only downside to this track, as with the other “Spec Ops” track, is that the volume level you need to make the track feel right could interfere with the actual gaming going on at the table. You’ll have to sort that out yourself if you use the track, but I can definitely say that’s the only impediment to me using it in an appropriate fight scene.

Play this track, and you’ll find yourself right in the middle of a firefight between a heavily-armed team (machine guns, the other kind of RPGs) and some kind of monster. I’m not sure who’s doing all that screaming — bystanders or the unluckier spec ops personnel. The monster’s roars are pretty evocative. The flavor is just right. The downside is that the track is very busy and noisy, and could overwhelm the gaming going on in the foreground if you play it too loud. But if you play it too softly, it sounds unrealistic or far away. I’m not sure how to resolve that dilemma. By the way, the catalog description identifies this track as “Spec Ops Team vs Otherworldly Being,” but the ID3 tags call it “Spec Ops vs Large Entity.” A little confusing.

This track is not the same as “Skyscraper Under Construction (abandoned),” which I have also reviewed, but it’s not a whole lot different. The sound of wind is more subdued in this track, and there are more noises. In particular, you can hear sounds that strike me as heavy footsteps, as of construction workers. However, there are no jackhammers, piledrivers, no compressed-air hammers or screwdrivers. It doesn’t really sound like there is much construction going on here, which reduces this track’s value in comparison with “Skyscraper Under Construction (abandoned).” I don’t really see a need for both in a soundscape library. I’d probably opt for this one over the “(abandoned)” version.

This track — which should not be confused with “Skyscraper Under Construction (night)” — doesn’t do much for me, but it does deliver what it promises. Mostly you hear the sounds of wind, of metal striking metal (like rivets falling on girders), and a few quasi-musical tones that could be distressed metal swaying in the wind or even car horns from down below. If you need to stage some kind of monster/killer hunt in an unfinished skyscraper, this track will do a good job of setting the mood. Don’t take the “under construction” part of the title too seriously. There are no sounds of active construction in the track.

This track delivered exactly what the name led me to expect: white noise (as of engines), pinging, and the occasional sounds of metal striking metal, or metal bending. The only thing missing is people. This submarine sounds like it’s deserted — which makes the track kind of spooky. Great for a “monster aboard the submarine” type of scene, or the exploration of an abandoned submarine; not so great for a wartime scene where the PCs are the submarine crew.

Despite the vague and unfortunate "foreign" in the title, this track does a good job of capturing an eclectic bazaar. Vendors haggle with customers, babies cry, donkeys bray, birds squawk, and a general hubbub immerses listeners in the marketplace. This would be a good track to use, for example, during the opening scene of the "Murder in Baldur's Gate" adventure or any other time such a market is featured. The soundscape is flexible enough to serve in fantasy, pulp, or modern games equally well.

I wrote the following review of the original "Dwarven City" soundscape from Ambient Environments: "This does not sound like a very friendly place! 'Duergar City' might be more like it. Barking dogs give you the sense that you're not really welcome here. Gruff voices, soft cries, and the sounds of pickaxes working away at ore deposits might give you the sense of slave labor. The track is pretty well done and relatively non-intrusive, even with the voices. But I don't see myself using it that often, unless the PCs at my table get captured by dark dwarf slavers or something like that." This product is the same track enhanced with orchestral-type music. The music is very well done, and gives the whole thing a very cinematic flair. I would definitely be more likely to use the "with music" version. But the tone is still ominous, befitting a place where the workers are slaves or the entire community is very much down on its luck. Still, the music adds enough depth and texture for me to give this one an extra star compared to the non-music version.

This track is dominated, of course, by the sound of wind. It mostly sounds like someone left a microphone out during a sandstorm—which, of course, is the point of the track. In the background, you can barely hear some instrumental music with a Middle Eastern feel. The overall effect is very nice, though I could stand for the musical accents to be louder. The track is a good addition to the Ambient Environments catalog, but there is no "wow" factor to it.

There is a striking mismatch between the title of this track, "Dead Swamp," and the first sounds you hear, which are sounds of life (crickets and frogs). In fact, crickets and frogs, along with birds and some other vague sounds that might be footfalls, are mostly what you hear throughout the entire track. The sense of "swampiness" comes only from the bubbling sounds you hear during the seventh minute of this track, and from a splash in the ninth minute—a splash that might be an alligator sliding into the water. If you listen to the track thinking "swamp," you hear a swamp. If you don't have that preconceived notion, you could be on an oilfield, out in the prairie, next to a placid lake, and so on. The name doesn't fit, but you can use the soundscape to good effect for a living ecosystem near just about any body of fresh water.

This track starts out very creepy, almost scary, with very deeply-pitched vocals that sound like they might come from some otherworldly entity. Then the track goes quiet, lapsing into a long stretch that sometimes gets near to silence but mostly exhibits very quiet vocals and ethereal sounds. It remains eerie, especially when all the sounds but the voices stop and you continue to hear this ominous chanting. Honestly, this one is almost too spooky and fairly disturbing—which means, I think that evokes exactly the feeling it's supposed to evoke.

Rifle and canon fire, the shouts of soldiers, and even the occasional sounding of a bugle combine to very effectively evoke the sense of the 19th-century US Civil War. The only thing that detracts from the scene is the occasional whistling, which comes off as a tad too jaunty for the scene. Also, the volume level seems to be noticeably lower than that of other Ambient Environments soundscapes. At any rate, this soundscape meets its goal very admirably.

This tracks jumps right into the middle of the action—as it should, for a background loop—with a car engine running at a pretty high RPM, followed shortly by the squealing of tires. There's even some breaking glass and such to show the speeding car's effect on its environment. It's a fun track that certainly puts listeners right inside the car, though it's up to you and the story whether that's the getaway car or the car in hot pursuit. There's quite a lot of gunfire in the track, which actually limits your options a bit. Some of the gunfire is rather high-pitched, almost implying "laser bullets," so you could probably use this track in a near-future chase as well as a modern chase. You can't take this back very far into the past, though. Even the 1920s (think Call of Cthulhu) would not support cars that sound like this. I did not notice any sirens in the soundscape, so you're not locked into having the police involved in the chase. I think I'd like to hear a version without the gunfire, but otherwise, I consider this a great track for modern urban scenarios, including superhero games.